The Morgan Dollar is a silver United States dollar coin. The dollars were minted from 1878 to 1904 and again for one more year in 1921. The Morgan Dollar is named after its designer, George T. Morgan, who designed the obverse and reverse of the coin. Morgan's monogram appears near Lady Liberty's neck on the obverse. The dollar was authorized by the Bland-Allison Act of 1878. It has a fineness of .900, giving a total silver content of 0.77344 troy ounces (24.057 grams) per coin.

History

The Comstock Lode, the greatest silver strike in history, was discovered in Nevada in the late 1850s. The strike put downward pressure on silver prices worldwide. The greatest silver strike in history was followed by the greatest coinage boondoggle in history. In 1878, to protect the interest of the western states, Congress passed the Bland-Allison Act which required the Treasury Department to purchase large amounts of silver, and to strike it as coins. For reasons of economy, the Treasury chose to strike the silver as dollars. The mintage was far more than was needed in circulation. These excess silver dollars quickly began piling up. Some original mint bags of Morgan dollars remained in treasury vaults until the 1960s. This strange past has led to one of the greatest collectible series in American coins providing collectors with many dates and mint marks readily obtainable in mint state condition along with challenging rarities.

When the dollar was minted in 1878, it was the first dollar issued for American commercial use since the last Seated Liberty Dollar of 1873. The Trade Dollar was minted during this time period but was for trade in the orient. The dollar was continuously minted until 1904 when the supply of dollars in circulation was high and there was an absence of silver bullion. Then in 1918, the Pittman Act called for over 270 million coins to be melted for silver content. In 1921, the coinage of the Morgan Dollar resumed for that year and was replaced by the Peace Dollar commemorative that would become standard issue. Since 1921, many Morgan Dollars have been melted, mostly when silver prices escalate and they yield silver bullion.

Caches of Morgan Dollars produced at the Carson City Mint were discovered and were sold to coin collectors by the federal government in the early 1970s. These dollars were uncirculated and are called GSAs (named after the General Services Administration) and come in holds that mimic the holds used for proof silver Eisenhower dollars.

Mints

Mintmarks appear underneath the tail feathers of the bald eagle on the reverse between the letters D and O in Dollar. Mintmarks include:

(Philadelphia Mint in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), CC (Carson City Mint in Carson City, Nevada), D (Denver Mint in Denver, Colorado), O (New Orleans Mint in New Orleans, Louisiana), S (San Francisco Mint in San Francisco, California)

Of all of these mints, the dollars from Carson City hold more value because of their usually low mintages, as well as a western connection. All proofs for the Morgan series were minted at Philadelphia but proof 1921-S coins are known to exist

Deep Mirror Proof Like (DMPL)

DMPL coins are regular Morgan Dollars that were struck for circulation but have unusually frosted legends and devices and very reflective, mirror-like, fields. There are coins that are heavy DMPL, meaning that they are very frosted/mirrored, and coins that are light DMPL, meaning they are not completely frosted/mirrored. These coins occur most frequently during the pre-1883 run of San Francisco dollars. Even with these examples, these coins are worth much more than a regular coin by the same grade. Special Varieties/Errors

The Morgan Dollar is known for many different varieties, called VAMs. Below are the most common ones:

1878-P: 8 Tail Feathers

1879-CC: Clear CC

1882-O over S

1887-O: 7 over 6

1888-O: Doubled Obverse ("Hot Lips")

1900-O over CC

1901-P: Doubled Reverse

Rarities

As with any coin series, when it comes to Morgans, original mintage does not always determine value. Some coins with a higher mintage have more value due to less coins having survived to the present day. Below is a list of rarities:

Any Carson City Coin

1883-S: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce

1884-S: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce

1892-S: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce

1893-S

1894-P

1895-P

1895-O

1895-S

1896-S

1899-P

1901-P: Uncirculated Grades are Scarce

1903-O

1903-S

1904-S